comparing professional and amateur translations of word play in - jyx
TRANSCRIPT
“I’D TAKE A P IN THE GUTTER OVER JULIA
ROBERTS ANY TIME”:
Comparing professional and amateur translations of
word play in How I met your mother
Bachelor’s thesis
Sanna Paajoki
University of Jyväskylä
Department of languages
English
22.5.2012
1
HUMANISTINEN TIEDEKUNTA
KIELTEN LAITOS
Sanna Paajoki
”I’D TAKE A P IN THE GUTTER OVER JULIA ROBERTS ANY TIME”:
Comparing professional and amateur translations of word play in How I met your mother”
Kandidaatintutkielma
Englannin kieli
Toukokuu 2012 22 sivua
Suomalaisina olemme tottuneet siihen, että suuressa osassa televisio-ohjelmistamme on tekstitykset.
Jos kielitaitomme on hyvä, huomaamme kuitenkin usein virheitä tekstien käännöksissä.
Huolimattomuusvirheiden lisäksi kääntäjä on saattanut käsittää jotain väärin tai hänellä on ollut
muuten hankaluuksia kääntää jokin tietty repliikki. Erityisen mieleenpainuvia käännöksiä huomaa
etenkin komediasarjoissa, joissa hankalasti käännettävät sanaleikit ovat suuressa osassa.
Sanaleikkejä käännettäessä jokaisella kääntäjällä on omat käännösstrategiansa ja tämä vuoksi
yksikään käännös ei ole täysin samanlainen. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena onkin tarkastella
sanaleikkien kääntämistä kahden eri käännöksen avulla.
Aineistona tutkielmassa on käytetty amerikkalaista komediasarjaa How I met your mother (suom.
Ensisilmäyksellä). Sarja on tunnettu runsaista sanaleikeistään, joten sen pohjalta löytyi odotetusti
runsaasti tutkimusmateriaalia. Aineiston keräyksessä katsottiin ensimmäinen kausi sarjasta DVD:ltä
suomalaisilla teksteillä, jotka on kirjoittanut koulutettu kääntäjä. Samalla kirjoitettiin ylös kaikki
havaitut sanaleikit ja niiden käännökset. Tämän jälkeen verrattiin käännöksiä Internetistä
löytyneisiin amatöörikäännöksiin samasta sarjasta, joita ovat kirjoittaneet kääntämisestä
kiinnostuneet nimimerkillä esiintyvät suomalaiset tai suomenkielentaitoiset henkilöt. Näistä
amatöörikäännöksistä oli saatavilla transkriptit, joten vertailun pystyi suorittamaan katsomatta
sarjaa uudestaan. Vertailun pohjalta valittiin sanaleikeistä mielenkiintoisimmat esimerkit ja
asetettiin ne kuuden eri kategorian alle. Kategoriat syntyivät suurilta osin leksikaalisien suhteiden
pohjalta, mutta myös kulttuurisidonnaiset sanaleikit otettiin huomioon.
Tutkielman tuloksissa kävi ilmi, että sekä koulutetun kääntäjän että amatöörikääntäjien
tekstityksissä oli sekä kömpelöitä että melko onnistuneita käännöksiä. Kääntäjät olivat lähestyneet
kääntämistä käyttäen eri strategioita, mutta suurimmassa osassa esimerkeistä käännökset olivat
laadultaan huonompia kuin alkuperäiset repliikit. Syy tähän löytyy sanaleikkien kääntämisen
hankaluudesta. Ainoastaan korvaamalla alkuperäisen sanaleikin vastaavalla suomen kieleen ja ehkä
myös kulttuuriin sopivalla sanaleikillä, onnistuivat kääntäjät säilyttämään vitsin hauskana katsojille,
joiden informaatio sarjan sisällöstä perustuu kuviin ja tekstityksiin.
Key words: word play, audio visual translation, subtitling
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 TRANSLATION, WORD PLAY AND SUBTITLING 4
2.1 Translating in general 4
2.2 Comparing translations 5
2.3 Word play and lexical relations 6
2.4 Audio visual translation: Subtitling 8
3 DETECTING WORD PLAY AND TRANSLATION STRATEGIES 9
3.1 Research questions and data 9
3.2 Methods 10
4 PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR TRANSLATIONS 11
4.1 Homophony 11
4.2 Homonymy 13
4.3 Minimal pairs 14
4.4 Double meanings 15
4.5 Culture related word play 16
5 DISCUSSION 18
6 CONCLUSION 20
7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 21
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1 INTRODUCTION
There are three different ways that are used to translate television programmes and these are
dubbing, narrating and subtitling (Immonen 2008:8-10). The most common way to translate TV
programmes in Finland is subtitling (Vertanen 2007:149). Reasons for this are that narrating is
limited to certain programmes such as documentaries, where the images are important and should
not be covered by text (Immonen: 2008:8-9) and dubbing is more expensive than creating subtitles
(Vertanen 2007:149) and therefore mostly used only in children’s programmes. Most of the TV
programmes that air in Finnish television are foreign and as a result, there is a great deal of
translating to do. However, screen translation can be a challenging task, especially if the show in
need of translation is a comedy. Comedies often include word play, which is a way of creating
amusement and word play rarely works the same way in different languages. The comic effect is
easily lost if linguistic games are translated directly. Accordingly, translating word play requires the
translator to put even more thought into the translations than usual.
The aim of the present study is to compare professional and amateur translations by looking at a
specific sitcom How I met your mother. The focus is on word play, since it can be especially
difficult to translate. Moreover, it will be interesting to see two translations of different linguistic
games, especially when one of the translations is done by a professional and the other one by
different amateur translators. I expect the translation strategies of these two to differ. One reason for
this is that professional translators have certain limitations, in terms of length for example, and the
amateur translators do not apply the same rules in their translations. Another hypothesis is that there
will be some awkward translations, some of which may create difficulties for the viewer to
understand the intended joke. I believe that the results of the current study can bring something new
to the area of audio visual translation studies. Studying word play is quite common and some
comparative research has also been done, but by putting these two together and using not only
professional translations, but moreover those of amateurs, the results can be discussed from several
points of view.
In the present paper I shall first introduce some theory on translation, discuss what difficulties
translators face and what we can learn from comparing different translations. The following theory
sections focus on word play and screen translation. After the theory, I will explain the methods used
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to collect the data, and present my research questions. Then I will move on to the results and
discussion section of the study, where I intend to answer the questions.
2 TRANSLATION, WORD PLAY AND SUBTITLING
In the theory section of the current study, some theory background on translation is presented,
including what approaches have been stressed in translation through time and the challenges that
translators face in their work. In addition, it is explained why each translation is different and how
comparing translations can give us insight on different translation strategies. After this the focus
turns to word play, where the term word play and how translating different types of word play can
turn out to be quite complicated is discussed. In addition, different types of semantic qualities
related to word play are presented. The focus is on categories that became apparent in the present
study. Lastly, the field of audio visual translation and especially subtitling is presented. Some terms
will be explained and the conventions related to subtitling TV programmes and what difficulties and
limitations translators face when translating such material are presented. In addition, there will be
some information on previous studies done on the field. All of these sections provide insight to the
area of study before moving on to the actual data.
2.1 Translating in general
According to Bassnett (2002:11), the general understanding of the term translation includes
"rendering of a source language (SL) text into the target language (TL)", while preserving the
meaning of the original text and the structures of the source language without the target language
structure becoming distorted. Another definition is that translation is a tool of communication,
where linguistic and cultural boundaries are involved (Hatim and Mason 1999:1). From these
definitions, we can already conclude that the process of translation is not as simple as it may seem.
Nevertheless, often translation has been perceived as a mechanical process, an activity that anyone
with the basic knowledge of a foreign language is able to perform (Bassnett 2002:12). The truth is,
however, that translating is an extremely complex matter, where the translator is bound to make
choices between different translation strategies and make compromises when considering what to
include in the final translation (Vehmas-Lehto 1999:16). Because of this, different translators
always produce different translations. As Bassnett (2002:33) states, it is an established fact in
translation studies that if we give the same poem to a dozen translators, we will get a dozen
different translations of that poem.
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There is such a great number of different theories on translation that there is no point to start
presenting all of them here. Instead we might look at what has been considered important in the
field of translation at various times. Vehmas-Lehto (1999:26-30) has listed three different
approaches that have been stressed throughout the history of translation. Firstly, in the ancient times
and later in the 16th century there was quite a liberal approach towards translating, where the
translator was able to adapt the text freely. Secondly, a popular approach throughout time has been
to try and preserve the original text as well as possible in the process of translating. The Bible for
example has mostly been translated this way. Thirdly, there is an approach where the use of
language is quite free, while the aim is to preserve the content of the original text as well as
possible. Currently the third approach is the most common to be used, since the other two can have
limitations. The adaptation of a text when translating must be justified and the translator should
always respect the original text (Vehmas-Lehto 1999:26). On the other hand, when one translates
something directly and tries to preserve everything from the original text, the translation process
will often take a great amount of time and the end result will not come across as very fluent, if even
understandable in some cases. In conclusion, using language freely while still trying to preserve the
content is the most respected way to translate texts.
The modern translator is most likely to have freedom in the linguistic choices he or she makes when
translating a text, but cultural aspects can complicate the translation process. As Hatim and Mason’s
definition of translation revealed above, the boundaries we face when translating are not only
linguistic, but also cultural. To a certain extent, translations always get stuck between two
languages, but also two cultures (Vehmas-Lehto 2011:29). As the text or speech that is translated is
written by a person who writes and speaks a different language, that person most likely comes from
a different culture and there might be some cultural aspects in their text/speech that the translator
should consider. When translating, one should be aware of both their own culture and the different
cultures around them (Teva 2002:33) in order to produce successful translations.
2.2 Comparing translations
As was mentioned above, two translations are never the same. Vertanen (2002: 96) points out that
each translator has a personal strategy on how they approach the text that needs to be translated.
The quality of the translated product depends on the translator and issues such as what their point of
view on the meaning of the text is and what they consider to be important. Previous experiences on
translations may also have an effect. If one asks for a translation on a piece of text from two
translators, the result is never exactly the same (Vertanen 2002: 67). This is true, no matter what the
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translated text is, whether it is literature or a piece of audio visual translation such as subtitling in
TV programmes. I shall now present a previous study that I found particularly interesting from the
point of view of comparing two translations in the audio visual field.
A pilot experiment was done in the field of audio visual translation by LETRA (Laboratory for
experimentation in translation) that compared professional subtitlers against translation students
(Pagano et al. 2011:133-160). Three professional translators, who had an average of ten years’
experience on the field, and three translations students who had no previous experience of
professional translation translated a Canadian film “The Handmaid’s tale” from English to
Portuguese and were compared in different aspects: the time they spent translating the text, reading
speed, spotting and condensation. In addition, different linguistic choices they made were analysed.
The translators were asked to explain the choices they had made when translating different sections.
It can be seen from the experiment that it was very rare for two translations to look the same, even
when they had almost the same content. The experiment was not without errors and both
professional and translation students failed to translate some sections or made inappropriate
translations due to the lack of awareness and poor strategies of information research (Pagano et al.
2011:153). There was no excessive gap between the success of translation students and professional
translators, but a gap between individuals was evident. This type of experiment can show us the
variation between different translators and give us insight on different translation strategies and how
much the general knowledge that the translator has affects the ability to create a successful
translation.
2.3 Word play and lexical relations
One definition of word play is that it “involves making jokes by using the meanings of words in an
amusing or clever way” (Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English dictionary 2006). In other
words, word play can be quite a broad concept and includes all types of language manipulation that
intends to create amusement, for example puns, spoonerisms, even idioms. Word play can create a
challenging task for translators, since it rarely works the same way when we move from one
language to another. In addition to linguistic boundaries, geographical, diachronic, sociocultural and
personal qualities can also have an effect on what a person finds to be funny (Chiaro 1996:5).
Related to sociocultural qualities are speech communities for example. Speech communities do not
only refer to people who speak a different language, but moreover people who share a language and
come from different backgrounds. Until we are a part of a certain speech community, it can be
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impossible to detect different language games that are being used (Farb 1974:19). Accordingly, we
are unable to find unfamiliar language games humorous.
Translating word play is certainly not an easy task. Chiaro (1996:77-99), for example, has studied
the translation of word play between different languages and cultures. She gives some interesting
examples on different instances of translating word play and what difficulties one can have when
trying to carry out this troublesome task. Chiaro emphasizes that word play is culture bound and
therefore highly challenging to translate from one language to another. Therefore, it is often
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to preserve the original meaning of jokes that are created by
the use of word play. Bassnett (2002:30) points out that if idioms are translated directly, the
outcome can be difficult to understand or in the worst case makes absolutely no sense to the reader.
She suggests that the best way to try and preserve the meaning is to find a similar idiom in the target
language. Although Bassnett’s focus is on idioms, the same rules also apply to translating other
types of word play. When the point of word play is to amuse, it is not advisable to translate puns
directly, as it leads to the loss of the comic effect and possibly confusion from the point of view of
the reader. However, creating a similar word play in the target language can be a difficult task and
requires some inventiveness from the translator. The translator needs to analyse the text and, in
addition to understanding the content, think about the most important points that should come
across in the translation (Vehmas-Lehto 1999:17). In word play, the most important point is usually
to preserve the comic effect, so the translator has to find a joke that he or she thinks would get the
viewer to laugh. Thus, among other qualities a translator should possess a sense of humour.
As was mentioned, word play can be a broad concept. In sitcoms, however, we can often detect that
lexical relations play a significant role in the linguistic games that are presented to us. Lexicology
refers to the words used in a specific language and it resorts to morphology, which studies the forms
of words, and semantics, which looks at the meaning of words (Jackson and Amvela 2007:2). Some
lexical relations that can be used in advantage in word play are presented below.
Homophony. Homophones refer to words that have the same pronunciation, but are spelt differently
(Jackson and Amvela 2007:27). Examples include words like pear and pair or write and right.
Homophones are quite common in English compared to other languages (Alm-Arvius 1998:61)
Homonymy. The term homonymy is used when “a single phonological form possesses unrelated
meanings” (Riemer 2010:61). In other words, homonymy refers to words that do not share any
meaning, but are expressed using the same form. Homonyms do not necessarily differ in spelling, since
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they are often not only pronounced, but also written the same way. A common example of homonymy
is the word bank, which refers to both the financial institution as well as the edge of a river.
Minimal pairs. Relating to morphology there is the concept of minimal pairs, which refer to words that
share the same form, but have contrast in one phoneme that occurs in the same position (Yule 2007:46).
Minimal pairs include word pairs like tape and tale or heat and heel.
The terms above are later included in the categories of the present study, in addition to double
meanings and the aspect of culture that are looked at in the results section.
2.4 Audio visual translation: Subtitling
Audio visual translation is a diverse field of study that includes translating all kinds of materials that
contain sounds and images. It includes for example, dubbing, subtitling and translating computer
games (Oittinen and Tuominen 2007: 11). Here, the focus is on subtitling TV programmes and the
strategies translators have used to try and preserve the original lines onto screen. This brings us to
another term, which is screen translation. It refers specifically to the study of translating text on
screen. Screen translation is a very common way of translating films and TV series in Finland. In
fact, Vertanen (2002:131) states that around eighty per cent of the Finnish YLE network’s TV
programmes are translated on screen and with other channels, such as MTV3 the percentage is even
greater. Nevertheless, the work of a screen translator can be difficult, just like all other forms of
translation. In fact, it can be especially challenging at times, as there are many limitations that come
with it.
When we laugh at the mistakes the translator has made while watching our favourite TV shows, few
of us know about the limitations that can affect the quality of screen translation. Vertanen
(2002:133-134) lists these different limitations that the translator needs to consider. Firstly, the
translator can put text on two lines at a time and one can fit 30-32 spaces on each line. In addition,
the two lines of text should be shown on screen for approximately five seconds at a time. Hatim and
Mason (1997:79) add that the subtitles should also match the image that is visible on screen. All
these rules limit the possibilities of translating the lines in their full meaning. Accordingly, the
translator needs to keep the lines short to allow the viewer time to both read the line and look at the
image (Kerkkä 2011:188). Of course, the limitations are there for a reason. Kerkkä points out that it
is important that the viewer understands the translated line by reading it once, since one does not
have a chance to go back and check the line. Then again, if the viewer did have that chance, this
would most likely ruin the whole watching experience. The work of a subtitler is not simple, since
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reading subtitles ought to be automatized, meaning that the viewer should not focus too much on
the text, but also be aware of the images and sound.
As Gambier (2007:87) points out, the number of Master’s theses in Finland relating to the subject of
studying audio visual translation is growing and the focus seems to be on specific problems such as
humour and word play, because of the challenges they bring to the translation process. Different
comedy series such as Friends, Frasier and Sex and the city have been looked at from the aspect of
linguistic play. Screen translation combined with word play can be a very interesting area of study,
since by looking at different TV shows or films and finding a new perspective always seems to
bring something new for us to analyse. Nieminen (2007), for example, has written a Master’s thesis
"Sgt. Pompous and the Fancy Pants Club Band": comparing and contrasting the translations of
verbal humor in screen translations of Shrek, which compares Finnish subtitles with the dubbed
version of the animated film Shrek. Nieminen’s thesis is especially interesting, since the study has
looked at two different ways of screen translation: dubbing and subtitling. Choosing a specific point
of view, like Nieminen, when conducting a study in the audio visual field provides the opportunity
to bring something new to the field.
3 DETECTING WORD PLAY AND TRANSLATION STRATEGIES
In this section, I will firstly present the research questions of my study and discuss the data that was
used. The reasons for choosing the particular TV series are then discussed. Secondly, the methods
that were used when gathering the actual data are explained.
3.1 Research questions and data
My aim with the present study was to focus on translating word play, because as Chiaro (1996:77)
states “Jokes travel […] badly” and translating an English joke into another language is not an easy
task for anyone. I chose to conduct a comparative study between two different translations of the
subtitles in the TV series How I met your mother. I thought a comparative study could be
interesting, because of the variation between different translators and the translation strategies they
use. Thus, I decided to compare the official subtitles that I could find on the DVD versions of the
show with subtitles that were done by amateur translators found on the internet. The quality of
translations done merely by professional translators varies (Vehmas-Lehto 1999:15), so the present
study was thought to provide interesting results. The research questions for the study were:
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1) What different translation strategies have been used to translate word play in the TV series
How I met your mother?
2) How do the translations of word play of amateur translators and professionals differ?
The show that was chosen for the current study is an American sitcom, where the main character
Ted is telling his daughter and son the story of how he met their mother. The show is about the 30-
year old architect Ted, trying to find the woman of his dreams in New York City. He has the help of
his four best friends, which include Marshall and Lily, a couple he has known since college;
Barney, a bachelor known for always wearing a suit and knowing his way with women; and Robin,
a TV reporter who Ted has romantic feelings for throughout the show. The sitcom is known for its
witty word play, which can be detected in most of the episodes. As there is such a great amount of
word play, I thought that the show would be ideal for the present study. Another reason for
choosing this series was that the data was easily accessible, since I had access to the DVD version
of the show including Finnish subtitles and transcripts of the amateur translations were available on
the internet.
3.2 Methods
I started my data collection by watching the first season of the show on DVD with Finnish subtitles,
translated by Miia Mattila. There were 22 episodes and the duration of one episode was
approximately 20 minutes. As I watched the show, I wrote down all the examples of word play I
could detect with their given translations. I also marked down the time when an example of word
play occurred, so I could easily go back to look at the different examples if necessary.
After I had looked at the DVD subtitles done by a professional translator, I started looking at the
amateur versions of the Finnish subtitles on the same episodes. I found the subtitles from the
Database of Movie Dialogues (29 Mar 2012), which is a site that provides a database of subtitles for
different films and television series. The subtitles found on this website are taken from DivX
Finland (2003), which is a site where anyone interested in screen translation can register and start
translating different films and TV shows. The best translations are picked out, proofreading is done
by more experienced translators and the end product is put on the site for people to download. This
original site does not provide viewers with transcripts anymore, but transcripts could be found from
the Database of Movie Dialogues (29 Mar 2012) by writing the name of the show, the season and
the episode on the search bar. While watching the DVD version, I had to write down all the data,
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but by finding transcripts of the amateur translations I could simply compare them to the word play
examples I had written down while watching the show on DVD. As I compared the two translations
on different examples of word play, I picked out the most interesting examples I could use in my
study. There was more data to be found than was expected. Thus, the examples chosen for the
current study were chosen according to the differences found between the professional and amateur
translations. Finally, the examples were put into separate categories to enable a thorough analysis.
4 PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR TRANSLATIONS
In my analysis I have focused on lexical relations. In addition, the analysis includes a section on
culture related jokes that seemed to lose their meaning when translated. Since the show How I met
your mother had a large variety of examples on different lexical relations, I chose the ones that I
found most interesting to analyse from the perspective of comparative analysis between a DVD
translation and an amateur translation. I will now present ten examples under the categories of
homophony, homonymy, minimal pairs, double meanings and culture.
4.1 Homophony
The word homophone refers to a lexical relation where two words sound the same, although they
are spelt differently. For example the words whine and wine are homophones. When gathering data,
homophones as a tool for word play seemed to be extremely common and the translation of
homophones was a challenge both for professional and amateur translators. Three examples of
homophony are presented below.
Example 1 (S01E03)
The word Legendary is repeatedly heard on the show by Barney, usually in the form ‘Legen - Wait
for it! – dary’. He uses the word to express excitement over something. In this episode, Ted and
Barney are being questioned by the police, because of their weird behaviour at the airport. They are
now able to leave the questioning room, but Barney gets invited for drinks by the female officer
while Ted is on the phone.
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Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Barney: We're going to Sachas.
Ted: Who the hell is Sacha?
Barney: Sacha (pointing at the female
officer who is waving back). She's
having friends over for drinks at her
house. It's gonna be legen- wait for it -
and I hope you're not lactose-
intolerant because the next part of the
word is- dary!
Barney: Menemme Sachan luo.
Ted: Kuka hän on?
Barney: Sacha! Hän on kutsunut
kavereita drinkeille kotiinsa. Siitä
tulee legen - ja toinen osa sanaa on -
daarista!
Barney: Menemme Sashalle.
Ted: Kuka hemmetti on Sasha?
Barney: Sasha. Hänellä on kotona
ystäviä drinkillä. Siitä tulee legen... -
odota hieman - Toivottavasti et ole
maitoallergikko, koska sana päättyy
maitotuotteeseen. Legendaarista.
As Barney cuts the word legendary in half, the last part of the word -dary becomes a homonym
with the word dairy. Barney creates a joke based on this homonym, referring to people who are
lactose-intolerant, in the middle of the word. In the DVD translation the joke is ignored and the line
merely translated 'Legen - and the second part of the word is - dary!' In the amateur translation the
word play is fully translated, but the comic effect is lost, because there is no similar homonym in
the Finnish language. In addition, the translation becomes awkward and makes no sense to the
viewer. The strategies used here are ignoring the translation and direct translation.
Example 2 (S01E05)
Robin and Lily are outside a nightclub and they are unable to get in. Robin had her name on the
guest list before and was able to get all her friends past the queue, but she left the club to take a
phone call and while she was talking on the phone the security officer changed. The new security
officer does not let her past the queue and Robin is now sitting on the sidewalk with Lily, who just
arrived.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Robin: I get recognised one time and
I start thinking I'm Julia Roberts. I'm
no VIP. I'm not even an IP. I'm just a
lonely little P, sitting out here in the
gutter.
Lily: You know something. I'd take a
P in the gutter over Julia Roberts any
time.
Robin: Minut tunnistettiin kerran ja
kuvittelin olevani Julia Roberts. En
ole VIP, en edes IP. Olen vain
tavallinen P, joka istuu katuojassa.
Lily: Tiedätkö mitä? Pidän enemmän
P:stä katuojassa kuin Julia
Robertsista.
Robin: Kerrankin minut tunnistetaan, ja
alan ajatella olevani Julia Roberts. En
minä ole VIP. En ole edes IP.
Olen vain pahainen
pieni papu ojan pohjalla.
Lily: Tiedätkö mitä? Ottaisin pavun
ojasta Julia Robertsin sijasta koska
tahansa.
The joke in this scene is based on the homophony of the letter P and the word pee. Also, in the
expression take a pee in the gutter the word take has a whole different meaning. It changes the
meaning from taking something concretely to performing an action - in this case urinating. In the
DVD translation the joke has lost its meaning, since the line has been translated directly without
trying to reserve the pun and therefore makes no sense to the viewer. In the amateur translation
Lonely little P is translated to little bean, so Lily's line goes 'I'd take a bean in the gutter over Julia
13
Roberts any time.' The line is understandable, but the pun is still lost and the humoristic effect is not
as great as in the original version. Besides, in both translations the viewer should understand that
the abbreviation VIP refers to very important person, in order to understand the line. Overall, it
seems like an impossible task to translate this joke entirely. Direct translation confuses the viewer
and using the word bean is only a slightly better strategy.
Example 3 (S01E09)
Barney has just proved to Ted that he could get a girl’s phone number by using the pick-up line
'Daddy's home' and is now telling Ted that he thinks too much instead of taking action. Barney
suggests that Ted should learn for him.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Barney: Ted, your problem is all you
do is think, think, think. I'm teaching
you how to do, do, do!
Marshall: Doo-doo, hah! (laughs)
Barney: Totally. (laughs)
Barney: Sinä vain ajattelet. Minä
opettelen toimimaan.
Barney: Ted, mietit aivan liikaa.
Opetan sinulle, kuinka toimitaan.
Both in the DVD and amateur translations, the joke made here is ignored and has not been
translated at all. Marshall points out the homonym between the words do and doo(-doo) ‘feces’, and
laughs at Barney's choice of words. The joke is a very short one and is not referred to later, which
probably made both translators choose not to translate the joke. The translation would have required
the translator to find a similar homophone in the Finnish language and there is none to be found. In
this case the strategy to ignore the joke seemed natural for both translators.
4.2 Homonymy
Homonyms are words that share the same pronunciation and spelling, but differ in meaning.
Homonyms were not as common as homophones when gathering data, but the lexical relation of
homonymy appears to be equally difficult to translate as can be seen from the following example.
Example 4 (S01E06)
Barney is at a Halloween party dressed as the devil and is trying to pick up girls. He is talking to a
girl and offers to make her a drink.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Girl: You certainly are a charming
devil.
Barney: I'm also a horny devil (points
at his horns).
Girl: Oletkin hurmaava paholainen.
Barney: Minulla on myös sarvet,
joilla tökkiä.
Girl: Olet oikea hurmaava pirulainen.
Barney: Olen myös isosarvinen.
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The homonym horny is used in this line to create amusement as it relates to both Barney's
Halloween costume and his sexual frustration. In the translations this does not come across. In the
DVD translation the translation means 'I also have horns that I can poke with.' and in the amateur
version 'I also have big horns.' In both cases the translator has tried to create a comic effect by
creating a similar joke, but with poor results.
4.3 Minimal pairs
The term minimal pair refers to words that have the same form, but differ in one phonological
element. The words pin and bin for example are a minimal pair. In the series that was studied,
minimal pairs were often used to create comic effect and proved to be difficult to translate. Two
examples are presented below.
Example 5 (S01E04)
Previously in this episode Barney has challenged Robin to say the word nipple on television and
promised to pay her if she does. The first line here is from Robin's television report and the
following one is when Barney sees Robin after the incident.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Robin: So, next time you're passing
city hall, make sure and stop by New
York's oldest hot dog cart. Today a
delicious hot dog will cost you 2.50,
but back when the stand first opened
in 1955, you could get one for only a
nipple.
...
Barney: There she is. Hey, is it cold
in here? Cause I can kind of see
Robin's nickels.
Robin: Kun kuljette kaupungintalon
ohi, muistakaa NY:n vanhin
nakkikioski. Nykyään nakkisämpylä
maksaa 2,50, mutta kioskin auetessa
vuonna 1955 se maksoi vain nännin.
...
Barney: Siinä hän on. Onko täällä
kylmä? Näen Robinin pennit.
Robin: Ensi kerran, kun tulette
kaupungintalolle,
varmistakaa, että pysähdytte New
Yorkin vanhimmalle hodari-kojulle.
Nykyään herkullinen hot dog maksaa
2,50 dollaria, mutta kun koju avattiin
vuonna 1955, sellaisen sai pelkällä
nännillä.
...
Barney: Onko täällä kylmä? Näyttäisi
siltä, että näen Robinin viisisenttiset.
In these scenes the word play is based on the minimal pair between the words nipple and nickle. In
the DVD translation, there is a similar word play between the Finnish words ‘nänni’ nipple and
‘penni’ penny, although it is not as obvious as in the original line. In the amateur translation there is
no attempt to preserve the word play, so the humoristic effect is lost altogether. Overall, the strategy
used in the DVD translation works better than the direct translation in the amateur version.
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Example 6 (S01E09)
This example is from the same episode as example 3. Ted has taken Barney's advice and is taking
action instead of thinking too much about what he is doing. Earlier Ted was so drunk that he was
put to bed by Marshall and Lily, but now he has gotten up and returned to the local bar, MacLaren's.
Barney is there and is excited to see him, thinking they could pick up some girls. He says the
following to Ted:
Original line DVD translation Amateur translation
Barney: Do you know what time it
is? It's do a clock. Bring it!
Barney: Kello on puoli pano. Barney: Tiedätkö, mitä kello on?
Aika panna toimeksi. Lähdetäänpä
radalle.
Here the the words two and do create a minimal pair. By saying do a clock, Barney is referring to
picking up girls at the bar. In the DVD translation of this line, the translator has tried to preserve the
joke and the translation goes somewhat 'It's half past fuck.' referring to the guys getting sex later
that night, which is usually Barney's agenda when picking up girls. In the amateur translation, the
line translates roughly as follows 'Do you know what time it is? It's time to take action. Let's go!'.
There is a slight word play as the Finnish question ‘Tiedätkö mitä kello on?’ refers to actual time
(2am for example) and the answer reveals a different meaning. In other words, both translations
have preserved some of the comic effect in their own way.
4.4 Double meanings
The category of double meanings was created for examples that were not only about one word that
affected the meaning, but a saying that could be understood in two different ways. The translations
of double meanings are challenging to translate and like the categories above, require the translator
to create a similar joke to preserve the comic effect. Two examples of double meanings are
presented below.
Example 7 (S01E03)
Barney has taken Ted to the airport, saying that he needs to ‘pick someone up’.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Ted: Why do you have those suitcases
and who are we picking up?
Barney: I don't know. Maybe her. Or
her...
Ted: Wait, so when you said you were
gonna pick someone up at the airport,
you meant you were going to pick
someone up at the airport?
Ted: Kenet me haemme?
Barney: Ehkä hänet. Tai hänet...
Ted: Tarkoitit siis, että tulet hakemaan
jonkun, kenet tahansa?
Ted:Miksi sinulla on matkalaukut
mukanasi, ja ketä olemme hakemassa?
Barney: En tiedä. Ehkä hänet tai
hänet.
Ted: Hetkinen. Kun sanoit hakevasi
jonkun lentokentältä, tarkoitit iskeväsi
jonkun lentokentältä?
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The double meaning of pick someone up in the original line has a humoristic effect as Ted thought
they were meeting someone at the airport and giving them a ride home, Barney meant that they
would go to the airport to hit on girls. In Finnish there is no such double meaning, consequently in
the DVD translation the translation is 'So you meant that you were going to pick someone up,
anyone?' and the amateur translator has merely translated the line as it is. Both fail to preserve the
word play, but the humoristic effect is perhaps greater in the DVD version.
Example 8 (S01E12)
Ted is at Robin's house. He has come to take her to a wedding. Ted compliments Robin's outfit and
Robin returns the compliment by referring to Ted’s suit.
Original lines DVD translation Amateur translation
Robin: Look who else brought it.
Ted: Oh yeah, thought about leaving
it at home, but I figured - I don't
wanna get there and realise I need it
and have to go all the way back to get
it. So yeah, I brought it.
Robin: Sinullakin on ykköset.
Ted: Ajattelin jotakin muuta numeroa,
mutta en halua ottaa riskiä, joten
panin ykköset.
Robin: Sinäkin hoidit homman.
Ted: Kyllä. Ajattelin jättää sen kotiin,
mutta ajattelin, etten halua mennä
sinne tajutakseni, että tarvitsen sitä, ja
joutuen siten palaamaan takaisin
hakemaan sen. Siispä hoidin homman.
By saying 'Look who else brought it.' Robin is referring to Ted wearing a suit and looking smart.
Ted turns the line into a joke by talking about concretely bringing something with him. The joke is
thereby based on the double meaning of brought it. In the DVD translation there is an effort to
preserve the word play by using the double meaning of the word ykköset in Finnish, which refers to
both wearing a formal outfit and the number one. In Robin's line the word refers to Ted's outfit, but
Ted replies 'I was thinking of another number, but I didn't want to risk it, so I put on "ykköset".'
Although the translation is slightly clumsy, it is the best example here to present the creativeness
translators should use. Creativeness is the best, but moreover the most difficult strategy in
translating word play. The amateur translation of the same lines show us ‘the easy way out’ by using
direct translation, which leads to the loss of the comic effect and even confusion.
4.5 Culture related word play
As was noted in the theory section of the current study, a challenge in all areas of translation is the
aspect of culture. In How I met you mother, there seemed to be both culture and word play mixed
together. The translator is thereby faced with not one, but two difficult aspects of translation. Two
examples on the translation of culture related word play were analysed.
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Example 9 (S01E06)
It is Halloween and Ted is dressed as a hanging chad, a type of ballot. Robin enters the room and
reacts to Ted’s costume.
Original line DVD translation Amateur translation
Robin: Hey Chad, how's it hanging?
Ted: Hey, word play. Funny.
Robin: Vaadin tarkistuslaskentaa.
Ted: Hauskaa.
Robin: Hei Chad, kuinka roikkuu?
Ted: Sanaleikkiä. Hauskaa.
USLegal definitions (2012) gives the following explanation to the term hanging chad:
Hanging Chad is a chad that is not completely detached from the ballot. A chad is a tiny bit of paper
that is punched from a ballot using a punch-type mechanical voting machine. When there is a hanging
chad, that vote may not be counted correctly. Chad was made infamous in the highly contentious 2000
United States presidential election where many of Florida votes used votomatic punched card ballots.
The above definition of a hanging chad is most likely unknown to people who are not familiar with
the 2000 United States presidential election and adding word play sets quite a challenge for the
translator. Earlier when Ted’s costume, the hanging chad, has been a topic of conversation, the
professional translator has translated the term as ‘hylätty äänestyslipuke’ an abandoned ballot and
the amateur translator as ‘epäkelpo äänestyslippu’ an invalid ballot. In her line, Robin turns around
the words hanging and chad into ‘Chad, how's it hanging?’ changing the word chad into a name
and using the word hanging to create a question ‘How's it hanging?’. The DVD translation of
Robin's line preserves Robin’s reference to Ted's costume, the ballot, by translating the line
‘I demand a recount.’ The amateur translator has chosen to translate the line as it is and the word
play is completely lost. In addition, what makes the amateur translation even more confusing to the
viewer is that the line ‘Hey word play. Funny.’ was translated, even when there was no attempt to
preserve the actual word play. Then again, however the word play is translated, the Finnish viewer
is most likely not able to understand what Teds costume is presenting, since it refers to the United
States presidential elections in 2000.
Example 10 (S01E07)
Barney, Robin and Ted are at the bar and they are talking about dating. Barney suggests applying a
lemon law, meaning laws that are used with cars in the United States, to dating.
18
Original line DVD translation Amateur translation
Barney: Last night, epiphany, I
realised what the world of dating
needs. A lemon law.
Robin: A lemon law, like for cars?
Barney: Exactly. From the moment
that the date begins, you have five
minutes to decide whether they are
going to commit to an entire evening.
And if you don't, it's no hard feelings,
just good night, thanks for playing,
see you never.
Barney: Tiedän mitä deittailumaailma
kaipaa. Sitruunalakia.
Robin: Niin kuin autokaupassa?
Barney: Päätöksen tekoon on aikaa
viisi minuuttia. Jos siinä vaiheessa ei
kiinnosta "Hyvästi, nähdään ei ikinä."
Barney: Sain eilen älynväläyksen.
Käsitin, mitä treffimaailma kaipaa?
Sinkunsuojalakia.
Robin: Kuluttajansuojalakia, kuten
autoille?
Barney: Täsmälleen. Siitä hetkestä,
kun treffit alkavat, on viisi
minuuttia aikaa päättää, sitoutuuko
koko illaksi. Ja jos ei, ei kanneta
kaunaa, vain "hyvää yötä, oli mukava
tavata, ei nähdä koskaan".
A lemon law is a law in the United States "offering car buyers relief (as by repair, replacement, or
refund) for defects detected during a specific period after purchase" (Merriam Webster online
dictionary, key word lemon law). In the DVD version the lines have been directly translated into
Finnish and the humoristic effect is lost. In the amateur version there is an attempt to preserve the
original meaning by talking about consumer protection policy. Then again, it is not the same as
lemon law and for this reason the viewer merely gets confused by the translation.
5 DISCUSSION
In all of the examples above, the translators seem to have struggled to find an appropriate
translation for different types of word play. However, three types of strategies seem to arise from
the translations. These are: ignoring the translation of word play, translating it directly and finding a
similar joke in the target language. First, I will briefly explain what I mean by each of these
categories and then move on to look at any general differences that arose between the two
translations that were looked at in the present study.
Ignoring word play completely and leaving it without a translation seems to be the option when the
translator is unable to create a similar joke that would work in the specific scene. As Vehmas-Lehto
(1999:100) says, at times translations can require an explanation that would be difficult to provide
and would take up too much space. Therefore, the easiest option is to leave them out. In the DVD
translation of example 1 the joke in Barney’s line is not translated, since there is no equivalent word
play in Finnish and the word Legendary is Barney’s catch phrase, which should be translated. The
viewer will not understand the joke, but the choice is better compared to the amateur translation,
where the viewer merely gets confused by the translation. Another example where the translation is
left out is example 3. Both translators have chosen to ignore the joke that was made.
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Not translating the jokes at all should be avoided, but as was mentioned, we can see a worse option
in the amateur translation in example 1. Accordingly, the most awkward translations seem to be the
ones that translate word play directly, which can lead to the loss of the comic effect and most likely
confuse the viewer. Of the examples above, the most confusing translation for the viewer might be
the DVD translation in example 2. The word play that is presented through the homonym pee and
the letter P does not come across in any way and, in addition, the abbreviation VIP can create
confusion if the meaning is not clear. The amateur translation in example 9 also leaves the viewer
confused. The line Hey Chad, how’s it hanging? makes no sense when translated directly into
Finnish.
In contrast, the translation is usually most effective when the translator has used creativity to create
a new similar joke, since this way the joke is portrayed to the viewer, at least to some extent.
Replacing a ‘difficult’ joke with another joke in the target language is a preferred approach when
translating films (Chiaro 199:22) or in this case, a television series. Probably the most inventive
data in the present study can be seen in the DVD translation of example 8, where the double
meaning of bring it has been replaced with a Finnish word play by using the word ‘ykköset’. The
translator has been able to create a similar joke that works, does not take too much space on the
screen and the comic effect of word play is preserved. Most of the translations have been able to
preserve the comic effect to some extent, but usually the line does not work as well as in the source
language. Creating an equivalent linguistic game, which would work as well as the original,
requires much thought and as translators usually do not have an excessive amount of time to use on
one translation, all the examples of word play cannot be as successful as the one presented.
All the translation strategies above could be seen both in the DVD translations as well as the
amateur translations, which shows us that the translations done by professionals are not necessarily
better than the ones done by people who have no professional experience in screen translation.
However, amateur translators have more freedom when translating, which can affect the outcome of
the translation. In the amateur translations there are several people who conduct the translation of
one episode and another person to do the proofreading. Accordingly, the translation process of one
episode can include up to seven people. Another advantage of amateur translators is that they do not
have the same limitations as professional translators. Amateur translators break the rules of screen
translation conventions by using more space for their subtitles, which allows them to provide more
detailed translations. Thus, the amateur translators have a better chance to succeed with their
translations in terms of conventions and the quantity of translators. On the other hand, the
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professional translator has an education and more experience on the field to help him or her with the
translation. In conclusion, both translators made some poor choices while translating word play, but
in some examples also showed inventiveness. Therefore, there seems to be no significant difference
between the successfulness of the professional and amateur translations.
6 CONCLUSION
The aim of the present study was to compare how word play is treated by different translators, a
professional translator and amateur translators. Due to different linguistic elements and cultural
factors, the translation of word play is especially difficult and in most of the examples that were
introduced in the present study the translation failed to preserve the linguistic game. However,
efforts to preserve the joke could be seen, although some of the comic effect always seemed to be
lost in the translations. In addition to the difficulty of translating word play, the limitations of screen
translation most likely played a part in the challenge, at least in the professional translation.
When comparing the two translations, no significant differences between the professional and the
amateur translators could be detected. Both the professional and the amateur translations succeeded
and failed in their translations of different examples of word play. Different strategies were used in
the translation process, including ignoring the joke, direct translation and the attempt to preserve the
linguistic game. The latter strategy was found to be the most effective way as ignoring the joke and
direct translation led to the loss of the comic effect and could sometimes even confuse the viewer.
The current study employed several points of view as it looked at translation of word play and
compared two different translations. However, there was perhaps too much to cover in such a brief
thesis. Focusing more on the comparison of two translations by looking at only a few episodes of a
series or a film could be an interesting approach. The difficulties of translation do not appear only in
the area of linguistic play and humour. Surely by choosing appropriate data, examples of difficulties
of translating cultural references for example, could be a topic of its own.
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